Dubai women's handball team battles the best

DUBAI The women’s team of the Dubai International Handball Club (DIHC) scaled new heights when they participated in the UAE Handball Championship, a tournament that has always featured UAE nationals and hired professional players.

The DIHC team, comprising mostly of expatriates, became the first non-Emirati club to be granted the privilege by the UAE Handball Federation to play in the 2014 UAE Women’s Handball Championship.

“This is indeed a milestone in the growth of handball in the UAE. It was a historical day marking a true revolution in the UAE handball arena,” DIHC chairman Dario Menichetti told XPRESS.

“Competitive handball till now was only accessible to Emiratis and to a very limited number of foreigners hired as professional players. With a large presence of expats in the UAE, it’s only natural that opening the competitive league to a wider audience will bring in a much larger number of players.”

Having achieved this big step, Menichetti said the next would be to replicate it in the men’s league. “A natural next step would be to extend the participation of expat teams also for the men’s handball league.

“Immediately after this, in close collaboration with the federation, we should work on getting more children interested in the sport by organising events, taking the game to schools and opening new handball academies. This way all the handball schools will give a chance and motivate children to become competitive players in the future rather than just playing for fun.”

The DIHC women’s team impressed immediately in the league claiming a 17-12 victory over Al Shabab in the opening game. They next play Al Jazira this Saturday in their second match.

DIHC playermaker Charlotte Sarrazin said: “The opportunity to play in the UAE league is a recognition for the expat girls living in UAE. It’s a fantastic feeling to get involved. “Everyone in the team was excited and have been training hard to prepare for this league. We were aware that it would be a big challenge since we had no idea of the level of the UAE league.”

Talking about the goals, she added: “The main goal is to help to develop female handball in the UAE by showing the quality, and how female handball can be interesting.”